Cooking Lesson
by knittingknots
Summary: Post Manga. Shortly after Kagome returns she knows that it's time for her to master an important skill. Why is she nervous, and why does Miroku get chased out of the house?


_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

**Cooking Lesson**

It was a lovely morning, the third morning of her new life away from the world she grew up in, her new life with the man she loved.

Kagome knelt down by an open chest, dressed only in a white under kosode as she pulled out the clothes she was going to wear for the day. Laying at the bottom of the chest was her sweater and short skirt, carefully folded. Her blouse and modern underclothes rested in a basket, waiting to be laundered until they too could be put away. She gave a fond touch to her sweater, and then closed the chest, and looked at the clothes she had taken out that Sango had given her to wear until she could get more of her own. They made a simple outfit, a kosode of light blue fabric, and a long wraparound skirt in beige with blue flowers printed on it. The clothes of a housewife.

She stood up to slip on the kosode. "I'm glad it's so much easier to wear these things than kimono back home. No pads, less to tie," she said as she smoothed the front of the kosode closed. It only came to mid-calf. The cloth wasn't quite as soft as the cotton and modern fabrics she was used to wearing, and it felt strange in some ways to be wearing something that brushed against her legs. Next, she picked up the wrap skirt and wrapped the tie around her waist. As she struggled to tie the knot behind her, the cords were taken out of her hands.

"Let me," InuYasha said, finishing the bow. Letting the loops drop, he in turn wrapped his arms around her.

"I didn't hear you come in," Kagome said, resting against him.

"I was quiet," he replied. His breath was warm against her neck. His arms pulled her in closer. "You about ready?"

She nodded, and spun around and stepped back. "So, how do I look?" she said, holding up her arms.

InuYasha looked at her, saw how she chewed on her bottom lip, waiting for his approval. She could have passed for almost any young woman in the village. "Just right. Like you belong right here," he replied. "I like those colors on you."

It was the correct answer, and her face lit up. "You think?" she said.

He stepped forward, pulled her back into his arms. "I know." He kissed her chastely on the lips. "My little village woman who is so much more. Now can we go to Miroku's? You're supposed to help Sango fix breakfast, and I'm hungry."

Laughing, Kagome reached up, and kissed him back. "I always want to belong here with you. Now I just hope my cooking doesn't chase you away."

Unexpectedly, his eyes grew intense and serious. "Never," he replied. His arms tightened around her.

Kagome took a deep breath looking at the smolder in his eyes, and reached up, brushing his cheek. "We better go unless we want to eat breakfast at noon,"

"Yeah," he replied, and taking her hand, led her out of the house.

Not long after that, Kagome and InuYasha sat in Sango's house.

InuYasha leaned against the wall, well away from the kitchen shelf and wash basin opposite the front door, where both women stood, washing greens and slicing vegetables. Right after he settled down there, Sango had handed him her son, and now he found himself playing with the boy while keeping half an eye on the two women. Little Naoya, even as young as he was, found the hanyou's silver hair and ears as fascinating as his sisters did, and gurgled as he chewed his fist and watched the hanyou wiggle his ears at him. Luckily for the two of them, the twins still rested in the sleeping room, and the baby seemed to enjoy having InuYasha all to himself.

The door slid open and Miroku walked in, fresh from his morning devotions at the nearby chapel, smelling of incense. He sat down on the raised wooden floor to take off his sandals, and looked at the two women hovering over their work. "Ah, what a lovely sight," he said as he tucked his sandals into their place and walked over to his seat by the fire pit. Looking at InuYasha, he said, "We must be very lucky, friend, to have two such beautiful women cooking for us this morning."

InuYasha looked over at Kagome. A smile touched his face as he answered, "Keh," until Naoya tugged on a strand of his hair and he bent over to rescue it. "You raising this brat of yours to be a fighter?" he asked.

Miroku laughed. "I thought he'd follow in his father's footsteps and be a monk. Maybe he's destined to be a warrior monk."

Kagome, turning around, held a length of early spring greens in her hand."Maybe you only think you're lucky, Miroku-sama," she replied to the monk, and grinned sheepishly. "After you taste how I fix it, maybe you won't think you're so lucky after all. My mother taught me to cook, but the kitchen at her home was so much different. I'm not sure if I really know how to cook here."

"Ah," Miroku said. "But I'm sure my friend here will be happy to eat any ohitashi you make, even if I don't. Right, InuYasha?"

InuYasha looked up, smiled at Kagome, but glared at his friend after she turned around.

"Don't be such a tease, Miroku," Sango said as she fished a piece of pickled radish out of the pickle barrel. She quickly rinsed it off and began slicing it.

"Who, me?" he asked, with his best innocent face. He got up and walked over to where Sango was working. "Whatever gave you the idea I was a tease?"

She slapped at his fingers as he reached over to take a slice of the pickle she was preparing, but he was too quick for her and closed his hand over his prize even as her hand hit his.

"I don't think you really want me to give you an answer," she said, shooing him away.

Munching on his trophy, Miroku walked across the room and sat down next to InuYasha. Naoya, seeing his father, began to fuss, and an uncertain InuYasha was happy to hand him over to the monk.

"You need to go find something to do, husband," Sango said. "We'll call you when breakfast is ready."

"What do you want me to do?" the monk asked his wife. Naoya grabbed one of his father's fingers as he waved them in front of the small boy.

Sango frowned and thought for a moment. "You and InuYasha can take Naoya outside. The girls are still sleeping, and I don't want him waking them up."

He nodded, and stood up. InuYasha looked inquiringly at Kagome, and she smiled to reassure him and nodded.

With a last silly grin, Miroku said, "Come, men. Let's leave the women to their mysteries before they bring the wrath of the kitchen kami upon our heads. Then what would we do for breakfast? Enjoy yourselves, beautiful women."

InuYasha snorted and headed out of the house. Sango scowled at her husband as he slid the door closed, and then both she and Kagome broke out with the giggles.

"I don't know why I'm so nervous," Kagome said. Brushing a stray lock of hair off of her face and out of the way, she turned around and looked at the fire pit, from where the wood was burning down into coals then looked up at the ceiling above the fire pit to where the heavy wooden support for the pot hook was attached. There was a wicker basket stuffed with straw hanging up there with skewers of fish stuck in it. Thinking about her mother's house and how the kitchen was laid out, she sighed. She knew all the people of this village and everywhere she had gone in Japan cooked over open fires like this, but thinking about how she and her mother cooked at home, she felt very uncertain.

"I never really paid much attention to how Kaede cooked on the fire pit when I was here before," she said finally. "I know how to cook over a campfire, but cooking in a house like this just feels . . . so different."

Sango smiled at her friend, and patted her hand. "I'm sure you'll do fine. Is it really that much different where you come from, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked.

"Yes," Kagome said, putting the last of the greens into a bowl. "More than you can imagine."

"Well, you've already done the hardest parts. You came across five hundred years of time, found InuYasha and started your new life. Learning to cook in my kitchen has to be the easiest part of it all," Sango said, smiling.

Kagome turned to face her friend. "You know, I believe you're right," she said with a smile. "So teach me how you make your soup, and once I learn what I need to know, I'll teach you some things my mother taught me."

"That sounds like a good plan," Sango said, and together, they carried bowls of food to the fire pit to begin the meal.

A/N Ohitashi is a traditional morning vegetable dish made by cooking green vegetables very quickly, cooling them, and then seasoning them with soy sauce and perhaps vinegar.


End file.
